Thursday, September 30, 2010

Supreme’s design language speaks to (and about) New York. It’s an early ’90s theme, a series of skate influences that reminds O.G.s of the “good old days” and builds a mythology for those too young to have been there. The lines Supreme’s design team uses, while rooted in that rearview vision, are modernized in a way that takes the product beyond nostalgia, and they have helped the brand build a streetwear category uniquely its own. This holiday, it works with Nike SB on an original silhouette, specific to Supreme.

“Our main thought was to create a newer version of shoes that New York skaters would have appropriated before there were real skate shoes, and combine that with other iconic basketball shoes from the time,” says Luke Meier, the lead designer on all Supreme SB collaborations. Foamposite material on the heel sets this shoe apart, and lines that pay homage to the classic Jordans give the silhouette a timeless feel, but the final result is anything but derivative. The new Supreme shoe is truly a city skate shoe: slimmed-up and clean enough to look presentable, but poppy enough to rock in the street. Welcome back to NYC. Hit the jump for images of the full collection, set to drop in November. supremenewyork.com

Earlier last month we introduced the Mister Chinos and got a great response from them. We got so many requests for diferent colors/sizes that we couldn’t possibly keep up with all of that. We can’t possibly fulfill everyone’s wishes for all the colors and material combination’s that everyone wants. We do feel that we’ve found a suitable solution that will make everyone happy though (were hoping!).

Starting on October 1st, 2010 we are introducing the “Mister Custom Chino Program.” We are giving everyone the chance to pick from a certain set of materials and colors that we provide and make you your own custom pair of Chinos for $80. All we need is for you to provide us with your waist measurement and what inseam you would prefer. We will be individually inspecting each pair for quality control and your pants will arrive to your doorstep and the pants should be at your doorstep in 2 weeks.

This is of course, an ESTIMATED time. We will try our best though! This is of course your own pair of custom chinos made just for you, it will come with a card letting you know that we have inspected it.

When: October 1st, 2010 starting at 12AM midnight

How: First 5 (FIVE) people to paypal tom@MrSFC.com will be the first to get in on the program. All the rest will be on a waiting list.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Yo, Minnesota, and people; YOU ARE SO FUCKING STUPID AND DUMB.
Why do you ask if the place I work at if I am the owner, then when I ask WHY? You bitch the fuck out. Do not ask if you don't have a reason to fucktard.
If you want to contact the owner, I can give you his information after I say no, but do not go 'undunno'. FUCKTWAT.

So Cathy brings the payment for Rebel8 in last night. I get a ride with her home. Ella is with her as well. She brought the check in at around eight, so she leaves Ella with me while she goes and does some grocery shopping at Cub Foods for an hour. When we are about leave, I roll my bike and feel that the front is flat. I go EFFFFFFFFFFF. I get home and pump the tire up. I get it pumped up because I planned to go to the Nomad and Triple Rock later. Cathy gets out the car and notices theres mint leaves or a bush full of them in from on the walk where her headlights were pointing, and picks them, I went whoa. She grabs that and I go inside. I start watching Wall Street and end up watching about an hour or forty five minutes. Head to shower and start heading to West Bank. I had a worry that my front tire may deflate again. I get to Triple Rock and chill there for about a half hour. I didn't want to drink there, then go to Nomad and drink again. Triple Rock was alright. It was busy as usual. King Otto was on the tables for tonight while I was there. I left my place like eleven or so and got to Triple Rock at like half past. I wish I got there earlier. I would have been able to drink and enjoy myself more there. Ashley W. is there and bounces along with me to Nomad around midnight. My front tire is alright then. I lock up and head in. A lot of familiar faces were inside and such. I eventually head to grab some beers since it was 241 after midnight there. I ask the dude bartender for Blue Moon, out. I ask for Grain Belt Premium, out. Next choice was Summit for me. He gets me one, then I ask for another. The tab comes to eleven. I am scratching my head, is this 241s? I text around today, and see I guess it was not a tap, domestic, or rail drink. Fucking A. I am never ordering at the Nomad myself again. Fuck that. No sir. I drink, I dance. Same old shits. This night though, it was Dustin Ruff's going away get together type shits. He is being sent off to Missouri due to his job transfer. There ends up some fight between some fat black dude and another, that I did not see on the floor. Dustin gets in the middle of the fight trying to break it up. I end up going outside and deciding to leave around this time of the night. It is fifty after one. The six's last bus of the night is eleven after two I think. I get to my bike and feel the front tire. The shit is dead deflated. I call up Mel see if she was at her place to crash since it was sort of close, she was out her sister's. I call up Becca, she is snoozing. I hit up Rach, no answer. I say FUCK it, and start walking. This is my route. I stopped at the SuperAmerica on Lyndale by Caffetto's. I copped two fire dogs for two sixteen. The cashier though I got a corn-dog since I used a corn-dog sleeve, and tried to charge me like three something for the two. I put mustard, ketchup, diced unions, and relish on both dogs. I tried the chili on one of them. That shit was bomb as fuck for it being kind of chilly color and three in the morning food. It was cheap and filling, and did not give me weird shits this morning or today so far. Franz apparently grabbed a corn-dog and tornado at a similar time or so, according to his Facebook status. I get home around four. It took me about two hours or so, including SuperAmerica hot dog pit stop, to get from West Bank Nomad World Pub to Uptown, via long way. I went long way because I was not going to be walking through Franklin street full of them crack-heads with an expensive bike like mine. I got home and crashed sort of. I tried to watch some more of Wall Street, but failed miserably, and fell asleep about half past four or five in the morning. I slept for about only three or four hours. I was up and boy did I not feel well of course. I get dressed and such and head to work. I finished Wwall Street at work today. Manchester United won their match today in the last minutes with Chicharito scoring as well. Today has been alright thus far. Tonight's plans are to do nothing. Tomorrow night's plans? NOTHING. I do not want to do anything until Friday night. I can not really do anything as well. My bike is out of commission until Vince buys me a new tubular, which will cost upwards to about sixty to seventy dollars.

Sayonara.
p.s. enjoy reading the big block of text as well......my brain is lazy to think about formatting.....

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

At work last night, I changed my cog from an 18t to a 16t. I did this after doing some organizing of the bike parts and cleaning. I arranged them into categories and shits. I like the new cog a little bit better. My cadence is a little higher and less stress on my legs. It was just the first day, so we shall see after I give it some time to adjust to.

I was planning to bike to downtown directly from work, but around Calhoun, I realize that I do not have my lock. FUCK. I end up going home and unpacking everything that I cycle with. I change and start riding to downtown. There was this Caribou band that was playing at First Avenue that I had a ticket for a dollar to, but decided to watch the movie instead of going there. It seemed like a more productive choice sort of. I chose to go watch "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" instead of "Resident Evil 3D: Afterlife" because it was a half hour longer. Great decision making skills right? Go figure.

The movie initially made me feel like I was back in economics class again, having to pay attention to everything that is said and details. I wish I knew the way stocks worked a little better to understand the movie more well. The movie was pretty slow in the initial build-up. The climax of the movie was not really climactic. The movie overall became pretty decent in the second half. Overall, it is a pretty dry movie if you like the action of bang bang Hollywood things. Definitely not a date type movie, not even a homies movie. It is a movie you watch yourself, because someone is going to hate the other person for dragging the other person to watch it probably type movie.

I am currently watching "Wall Street" now, hopefully finishing it soon, within three days. I watched "When Harry Met Sally" in three days, along with "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist". I tried to finish Harry Met Sally last night after getting home from the theater last night. I fell asleep to it and woke up late to my alarm clock this morning as well.

I wake up and head to work, which is nice since the sun was shining and it was not too cold this morning. I get to the stop for the shop, get off and start riding, I immediately feel the bump in my pedaling. I stop and check the rear tire, then feel the front, FLAT. I get to work and pump it immediately of course. It seems to be holding its pressure now.

Today, I am probably going to Triple Rock and The Nomad for Dustin Ruff's going away party. Two for Ones most of the night. Triple Rock ends at midnight, The Nomad's begins at one in the morning.

I also heard about J.Cole going to have Karma for a show. Curren$y show there was wack as hell. The venue is what made it wack, Spitta did his thing. The venue is badly situated and there is this wire in front of the stage, like a wrestling ring. I am hoping the tickets are under twenty. I wish he was set up with the Fine Line Music Cafe instead. That is nice.

I am kind of excited for the Wiz Khalifa show though, which is now sold out, at First Avenue's Mainroom next Tuesday night. This Friday though is going to be Get Cryphy at the Record Room at First Avenue as well.

This coming fall the Wolverine 1000 Mile collection is unveiling a limited edition boot under the imprint 721LTD (named as a nod to the original 1000 Mile boot reference number). To celebrate the release we commissioned a short film series to document the process of creating the 721LTD boots. Our first film profiles America's finest tannery, Horween leather in Chicago. Horween takes us through the process of making the shell cordovan that will be supplied to the 721LTD boots. To learn more about 721LTD, stay tuned for the rest of the series.

Wolverine 1000 Mile | 721LTD | Making the Boot

In the coming weeks, the Wolverine 1000 Mile Collection will release a limited edition boot under the imprint 721LTD (named as a nod to the original 1000 Mile boot reference number). To celebrate the release, we commissioned a short film series to document the unique journey of these 1000 Mile boots. The second film in the series guides us through the process of crafting the shell cordovan 721LTD boots.

By. Esquire Magazine
September 27, 2010 at 4:20PM by Josh Peskowitz

Wolverine, the esteemed work boot manufacture founded in 1883, will be releasing the 721LTD as part of their 1000 Mile collection in mid-October. The collection, comprised of archival and reinterpreted classics, started with the re-issue of the 1000 Mile Boot (purported to last the wearer 1000 walking miles) and has been growing in popularity ever since. This new addition, made in the USA of Horween Shell cordovan, is limited to several hundred pairs and sports a price tag significantly higher than the baseline model ($725) but you get what you pay for. Throughout its history the Rockford, Michigan based company has been known for the durability of their products and the 721LTD looks to be no different.

While the economy is in a recession, Rap is also in a recession. Talent has been drained and a plethora of “Rappers and Artist’s” are coming out with what they deem as quality product. It has catapulted to the point where these impostor’s are making a living off of it and other Artist such as OFWGKTA are flying under the radar. For my readers who don’t know i did a post on the groups leader Tyler the Creators song Assmilk off of the Conveniently titled Mixtape Bastard. One of his group-mates Mike G saw the post and gave praise towards it. Conversation continued along and now you are all here witnessing this. This is the Odd Future Interview By The Inner City Kids.

1. When did you guys begin OFWGKTATyler - in 2002, after we heard Nellyville
Syd – i just hopped onto OF a little over a year ago. hodgy came to a session i had booked with another rapper, and hodgy ended up recording more than the guy paying for the session. a week or so later i come home to a gang of wolves on my porch.

2. Who are all the members of OFTyler - Tyler, Michael, Hodgy, Domonique, Earl, Left, Syd And Matthew. The Members of Odd Future Are Young Swag And Steve The Turtle3. Whats everyone’s Role within the groupTyler - Tyler Prepare The Dish, Hodgy And Earl Makes Sure It Goes Into The Oven. Domo Turns The Stove On. Matt And Left Makes Sure it Cooks. Syd takes it Out And Mike Gives It To Everyone.4. What Motivates yall to do what yall doTyler - The Evil Mexican Ninjas Said If We Dont Do This, They Will Kill Our Family
Syd – Aside from all the money we’d all love to have, I think the biggest motivation for all of us is to see the looks on the faces of all the people in our past that ever did us shady or said we weren’t shit. Pretty much all of us have spent a big chunk of our lives as underdogs or outcasts. Teenagers can be so cruel…
Matt – What motivates us is the hunger to be the leaders of a generation, to let kids know its OK to be a rebel and its okay to say “Fuck”…
Mike G – Mainly the fact this is the only thing i’ve wanted to do. And its kind of ironic, but I work hard so I can be lazy in the future, if that makes any sense

5. Now Most members of OF who i have heard spit do not have a care it seems, and rap about all kinds of insanity. I love it personally but is it a reason behind that style of rap for you guys?Tyler - We Do What The Fuck We Want.
Syd – Wait… Doesn’t everyone have those kinds of thoughts?….. No?….. Oh….. Well I guess we’re all just cry babies who get butt hurt when girls don’t like us back, and that causes us to create mental scenarios in which we cause them lots and lots of pain for revenge. Everyone has “unpure” thoughts, though. Don’t front.
Mike G – We were born like this. The world would be a much better place if nobody gave a fuck about opinions

6. In new york you guys are blowing up like crazy i cant go anywhere without hearing about you guys amongst people our age. Any Plans to one day come to Nyc?Tyler - Yeah, One Day When We Get our Money Up. We Love NY Tho
Syd – If someone would be down to fly us all out there, we’d all be down without a doubt.
Matt – Of course.. we wanna travel the WORLD…maybe space if technology gets there some day.
Mike G – That’s a must. We will one day. Can’t wait.

7. What is in the works for you guys?Tyler - A Movie By John Singleton
Syd – BlackenedWhite drops 10/31/10 and it is going to be INSANELY AMAZING. Then there’s Wolf, and I think a Christmas album dropping before that… It’s hard to keep up.
Mike G – OF is going on family feud…Just to tell Steve Harvey hes wearing an ugly ass suit

8. And in closing, are there any people, movements anything you guys would like to shout out?Tyler - the Jerk Movement Is Popping Right Now, And Whats Up To Steve harvey
Syd – All the blogs that have been posting our stuff, FREEDMINDS, crips, bloods, Shake Change, and Jesus.
Matt - Id like to shout out Imnotatoy.com they are HUGE supporters of Odd Future…. other than that the only other people i would have shouted out are in OF so im done.
Mike G – Mainly the people that doubted us. Sounds typical as fuck but I aim to prove them wrong. Might even get some money in the process. Wolf Gang

Words By Joseph C Davis
P.s: None of this would have been possible with out the Homie Mike G

This is my most recent purchase, the lighter belt. It is made by Unlucky Leathers. Unlucky Leathers and Corter Leathers are two great independent leather artisans, a dying trade it seems. The price was good. Read my previous post about Corter Leather. The product is high in value for its price and quality. The darker belt is for comparison reasons. The darker one is my Joseph Abboud leather belt that I purchased back in about 2006 or 2007. The thickness is much thinner and color has aged quite a bit as well in comparison to the natural tan Unlucky belt above. I will take photos of the buckle another day. This was bought through a third party member, as the size was incorrect for the buyer or some other reason. The price was thirty five bucks shipped. A good thirty five bucks that will last me at least another few years. The belt is now a little tanner already as I have treated it with Dr. Marten's Wonder Balsam to moisturize the leather and keep it from drying out. I believe it only needs to be treated like once every three or four months.

This is my hair down, or hair up. I have been growing it out for a little while. The last time I got a haircut was in April of 2009. It is now September 2010. I want to grow it out for at least two years. I want to get it dreaded, but have been lazy, and do not want to spend the initial couple hundred on it right now. I don't really want to cut it as well either because I have been growing it for so long as well. Decisions, too many to make.

Monday, September 27, 2010

But the impression I am getting, especially from lifestyle brands ( mostly fashion, but also consumer electronics etc ) is that they have hired everyone they could find to be a “cool hunter” and identified every imaginable niche sub culture to explore to the point where the original “cool hunter” has again become the consumer/target group. A snake that bites it’s tail sort of analogy. Even worse, I feel as if every brand I have come across, doesn’t matter if we are talking Nike, Dries Van Noten, American Apparel, Supreme, Mark McNairy or H&M – I mean this goes for every idiot out there making clothes, has taking it upon themselves to identify a niche to cater to, and if it is not there, create one to sell to and identify with. It’s mind boggling and hugely off-putting. Nothing is genuine, it doesn’t matter what store I went into, everything felt fake, used, empty and utterly boring. Every store, every ad, every magazine, every online platform is trying to SELL something to a real or imagined subculture with promises of stardom.

On a side note – or maybe the antithesis in my Hegelian dialect in status quo analysis, I also feel that the necessary content of any subculture has been replaced with something sell-able. In my opinion, it is the non-sellable stars in my friends eyes caused by music, art, thoughts, conversations, ACTIONS and such that make up a sub-culture, which OCCASIONALLY, have resulted in a sell-able piece of clothing. Very occasionally. Today, the creation-process, the intellectual and emotional currency building process of any sub culture has become irrelevant. The cool hunter quickly comes up with a new sub-culture to brand the shit out of, puts together a mood board and the clothes are made within a few months to, one the one hand sell and on the other hand place the creator squarely within the real/not real subculture. None of the brands I came across with all their marketed extensions into the real world or the internet seem to have content – as far as I am concerned every activity by any brand reeks of marketing/branding, invasion of private mental space to only benefit the brand, and no one else.

I'm especially enthusiastic towards hard work and dedication, irrespective of the craft in question. In this case I was immediately drawn toward the beautiful works of Eric Heins, a young leather maker who's begun to build an impressive collection of wares under his one man moniker,Corter Leather.Corter Leather is very much in it's infancy, yet Eric's portfolio still manages to include a wide range of items such as wallets, lanyards, laptop sleeves and bags, amongst other things. He is meticulous in his execution of fine detail throughout his work, working out of his bedroom studio in Boston, Massachusetts. 'Holes are punched and sewn by hand, hardware is set with a mallet, and though most leather is left natural, colored leather is dyed and oiled in house. No templates are ever made; each piece is cut by memory, making no two pieces perfectly alike.' Eric is a true craftsmen, breaking generational vogue by entering into such a niche profession at such an early point in his life and career. I've been lucky to have a few moments of his time recently, to capture this interview for you all to enjoy._________________

How did you first become interested in working with leather? Where did you learn you craft?I was 19 or 20- about three and a half years ago. I'd been living pretty sparingly trying to get through school, and I really wanted a Redmoon wallet but obviously couldn't afford it. I've always been more interested in process rather than product, so I spent about $40 at a local tannery on some cheap tools and junky leather and I looked up a couple online leather working tutorials. From there it's kind of history, I'm completely self taught and I've been learning from books and trial/error ever since.

If you can remember, what was the first item you ever sold?I think it was a 6" tall wallet with a strap reign and a seafoam green zipper, and I believe it was a gift from the purchaser to someone who had just come back from the military. (Wallet pictured below, right)Is it by choice or simply the stage of your business growth that you're currently a one man outfit?
About 10 months ago, it was just the stage of the business. This year it's by choice. Call me a bad business person, but I think that just because you can expand physically doesn't mean you should. I want to make sure I know my own business inside and out before I introduce it to another person, and I feel I'm not there quite yet- I'm still learning, and I feel Corter is still very young and developing. I have a bunch of friends that are ready to punch holes and lay stitches whenever I need them, so I'm pretty sure I'll be working with them long before I hire any permanent staff.Do you plan on expanding to work with a full team and work in a larger studio environment?Right now I work in a bedroom that's been converted into a studio with my presses, workbench, and dark storage with a bed in the corner, so a studio would be wonderful! I've got some plans to travel and work once I'm out of my current space next year, but my next permanent place will have studio space. Other than that, I plan on expanding to wherever I need to be. If that means a full team and a nice big, airy studio, then I'll be psyched. However, I never ever want to be behind a desk signing off on designs and budgets. I'd rather hire a boss than workers if that's possible.What do you enjoy most about running the show solo? Also what are some challenges and how do you overcome those?
The best part is the freedom. I keep really weird hours and travel around a fair bit with a tool box and a couple hides, which I wouldn't be able to do with anyone working for me. I'm fairly stubborn and independent, so I like learning how to run the business end of things by myself- even though it would be nice to have guidance some of the time.
One of the biggest challenges is that the perception of the company is all over the place. Some people think it's a lot of people with machines, and wonder why it takes two weeks to make a belt. I also get a lot of large orders I just can't fill from other companies that expect overseas production costs. On the flip side, others see it as being way small, so a lot of people won't understand why I can't take phone calls or chat online, and I feel really bad when I miss an email or something. It's kind of like being in the center of a "big company/little company" ven diagram right now, and trying to make my way from one side to the other. Because I didn't really set out to do this, I didn't have a plan. Overcoming these challenges involves getting a plan in place, and I've done a pretty good job of learning on the fly-but I'm still learning every day.Where do you draw your inspiration when creating your leather works? Do you work by customer demand or create based on personal progression and experimentation?
I'm inspired by how people interact with their things, but mostly how things have a life and story of their own moving from one person to the next. The internet has created such an amazing global community that products get shipped all over the world. Because of this, I've mostly stopped imagining the life of my customer; I imagine the life of my work and where it might go. I guess I'm most inspired by the thought of seeing one of my pieces again when I'm older, after it's maybe been around the world, or passed down a couple generations, or even stayed in the same pocket in the same town, just seeing how it's changed. That's also why I use a lot of natural leather- I want it to show it's age and tell it's story.
I keep sketches, but rarely draw out full ideas because I like to work them out while making the first one in leather. I also never make patterns or prototype with anything but leather, so even if I don't fully custom design something it's going to be unique. I do a lot of custom work for people, but I'm very focused on designing my own pieces as well. I'd never want to stop doing both- I enjoy designing a piece just as much as I enjoy turning off the creativity and simply working with my hands.What's next for Corter Leather? Do you have any plans for the immediate future?
I think it's finally time to try and find some retail outlets for Corter. I've been shying away for a while now, but I'm ready to let other people in and get products out there. I've started working on the next collection, which will probably take a year or so to design- I'd like to do a bag or two this time, and only do one or two solid wallets. As far as collaborations go, I'd actually really love to move past accessories and maybe do some clothing- I guess it'd be more of a design collaboration, or maybe I just want to learn more about it, but I've been itching to try some new things lately. So I'd really like to work with a clothing designer.

I'd just like to thank Eric for all his time, and we'll be sure to update with all Corter Leather news as it happens. For all things Corter Leather, please do check out the link below.

Last night I got done with work at six in the evening. I was sort grumpy after around that time. It was slow at work, and then there were some customers that came in or stayed until around closing time. I was about to catch my bus when my friend comes in as I was leaving. He persuaded me to re-open quickly so he could cop a few shirts and he ended up giving me a ride home. So making money made me happier.

I got dropped off at McDonalds in Uptown. I go to Sawatdee Express so I can cop dinner, which ends up being the spicy chicken pad thai. I get that and walk home. I end up home and eat that while watching Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. I finally finished that.

I ended up talking to Becca over aim while she does her paper, and assist slightly. She got a brain fart about her paper that was due the next afternoon, today, at four. The paper had something to do with what is your Urban Identity. I would have described mine as a hipster in the original true sense of the term. I say this because I am sort of one, but not the stereotypical hipster. I was going to say something to assist her on my view or such so, but it would have probably been mean sort of, so I let her write what she wrote about sort of, which is different from my perspective. She eventually finished it about at three today. I ended up going to sleep at about twelve thirty or one in the morning last night as well. I did two loads of laundry. Warm clothes just out the dryer is heavenly.

I listen to Tyler, The Creator last night as well. He is this self produced rapper from California, around the Los Angeles area. He avoids sampling, has a pretty unique style. and is apparently dating Lindsay Lohan's sister, or something like that. He had this album that came out last year called "Bastard" with an upcoming one called "Wolf" which is on MTV's anticipated albums for the rest of the year.

I drank my Cherry Coke that I took from my fridge as well. I took it from the fridge because I do not trust my roomates. I left a twenty ounce in there before, and I saw someone drank like half of it. NEVER AGAIN. Fucktards, one of the two are lying to me. I have a feeling I know which one did it. The problem is one of them is lying, so I say fuck the risk.

Today was sort of weird occasioned. I cleaned most of the bike tools and organized the back area. I tried to watch "When Harry Met Sally", but got caught up cleaning and such. I also then changed my cog from an eighteen to a sixteen tooth one in the rear. I am excited to ride again after a two or three day hiatus due to how cold and lazy I was and the way the weather has been, raining.

I am going to hit up AMC theaters downtown tonight probably and watch Resident Evil 3D or Takers or something else that I am interested in. Movies sort of calm me. Movies and TV shows are like my anti-drug. Cycling could be it as well a little.

This is a post by Steven Vogel of Black Lodges. If you ask about who? what? huh? Please x out your window now, and please stop reading what I post.

The bold highlighted sections are what stood out for me. Aside from some misspellings and grammatical errors, it isn't too badly written by a German, I believe. Feel free to re-blog/re-post/link to myself.

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The past week was, gratefully, spent talking to a few colleagues in this industry, as well as watching some great documentaries on music and youth culture. Most interesting was a long lunch with a friend of mine who works at the very large online / mail order retailer, Frontline, here in Hamburg. I guess you could say he is their main buyer an he has been with the company for nearly as long as they have been around, which will be 25 years next year. What makes these conversations so interesting is that Marc is maybe even more of a music nerd than I, with a great interest in hardcore, straight edge, heavy metal. More so, I genuinely respect him for his insights into youth culture /trends and being able to turn them into a very profitable business.

The documentaries I watched were “hype!” which chronicles the rise of the grunge scene in Seattle from 82 to 96 and more importantly the relationship and impact the scene had with the global press. The other was “American Hardcore” which I am sure most of you know, but if you haven’t seen it, do watch it. I will get back to those later.

Now, Marc and I talked in detail about trends, retailing, buying and youth culture in relationship to these points as well as music. The conversation raised a lot of great points that I will try and share here, even though I fear I won’t be able to reconnect all the dots from Friday. I blame 20 years of street culture for the loss of brain cells.

The first point we talked about is how street wear has not only killed itself off, but additionally failed at becoming the “next big thing” as well as the fact that the corporate re-interpretation of streetwear has not been the big money maker it initially promised itself to be a. Looking back on it, 2002/2003 really saw the emergence of modern streetwear as we know it today. Let’s, for once, forget about the few brands and stores that paved the way in the 80s and 90s because quite frankly, their models, lessons and aesthetics are actually irrelevant to this movement. I can’t be bothered to write down an all inclusive list of brands from that time period but I am sure we all know what and whom I am talking about here.

Initially, it all looked as if the streetwear movement from that time was going to be big, and I not only mean big as a globally influential youth culture movement with it’s own set of moral, cultural and ethical standards but also big in terms of money. Big enough that in 10-20 years time, those people behind the successful companies could retire in the same style as a certain Mr. Stussy did back in the late 90s. I have written about this before, but to paraphrase it, what made any previous youth cultural movement, including clothing, globally successful and relevant were certain amount of interlocking facts. These are: a moral code not to fuck your friends, i.e blood is thicker than water, i.e. not ethically and morally selling out. Secondly, and this was key to the success of previous youth cultural movements commercially, keeping your distribution really tight. That means, supporting the right independent stores, not going into the mainstream retailers, and only making your product available in select outlets. Previous to 2003, this wasn’t a sales strategy but a fact of life that only a select number of people would actually want your niche product and only a select number of retailers and would and could actually sell your gear.

Now, before 2003 it was generally accepted that if you did make anything relevant to a niche, regardless of music, art, clothing etc, chances were you weren’t going to be millionaire. That was fine, that’s the price you paid for being able to do your thing. Freedom reigned supreme over being rich.

For the first couple of years, I would dare say up until 2007 streetwear looked really promising as it’s participants were generally following said guidelines. Distribution was kept tight, and the global community respected & supported each other, creatively and commercially. Then this financial crisis came. Now, in the previous incarnation of this blog a lot of our community members talked at great length about this and I am not going to get into detail about all that now, but rest assured, I think the mental crisis that accompanied the real life financial crisis that hit us all, went into a total different direction than anticipated by us all. The end result and where we are now is, that all principals that made this movement promising went out the window in the last 3 years and have destroyed the foundation of it, and thus, relegated all chances of this movement to be truly successful.

Looking at what Marc said, as a buyer who firmly believed in streetwear and was willing to support it with large amounts of money and integrity, he has all but given up on it, not only on the independent creative results but also on the corporate interpretations of it. Mostly, because independents have sold out, morally, ethically and most importantly, distribution wise. In his words and I agree with them, the streetwear community falsely started believing it’s own hype that it was a global, both terms of it’s definition and in monetary terms, movement. It wasn’t and now it never will be. Greed got the better of all of us and before you knew it, everyone was selling previously hard to get gear and that took the appeal from it. Furthermore, the ethical standards prerequisite to previous movements such as hardcore, straight edge and to a certain degree grunge were totally ignored, not only by us, but also by those corporates trying to emulate and cash in on the movement. What I mean is that community gave up on itself and that all intellectual and genuine integrity was sold off to the highest bidder.

In retail reality this meant that both the indies and the majors started selling to everyone as the fear of losing money and facing the reality that we are a niche group, started threatening our imaginary empires. This resulted in a lot of genuine first time supporters in retail going broke, as well as a lot of the genuine large retailers loosing faith in the scene. We all lost in the end.

We lost creativity because we sold out. We lost the community because we were greedy. We lost our claim to be influential by selling to everyone in the hope of making a quick buck.

That’s the reality of it. Anyone still clinging onto the notion that streetwear and hence street culture is important on a grand scale really needs to wake up, or more importantly I think, start to realize that it is a niche sub culture, one that can be really fulfilling IF, and only if, you start to accept the fact that you will never be the next Jay-Z or Mark Ecko. Once we realize that there is a genuine positivity that stems out of a community built on respect, hard work, good ethics and creativity we might just all start to have fun again. Because as I see it now, no one in this subculture is having fun.

So what next?

With all this somewhat philosophical talk of utopia the harsh economic reality needs to be addressed nonetheless. My first point is, if you want to stay in this niche culture don’t expect to make a lot of money. Ever. If you do want to work in fashion, go and work in fashion, for one of the big players: Nike, Adidas if you are into sportswear, or the VF group if you are into action sports / denim fashion. If you are good enough and willing to accept the corporate cultures then you can have a go at making a living in this world. Otherwise, flat out forget it. No one in independent streetwear will ever become rich. That’s a fact.

Secondly, after speaking to Marc whose job it is to identify the next big thing to make money of, my opinion was and is that there never again will be a global trend that you can make real money off. Coming back to the documentaries I watched this week, Grunge, was the last, serious global youth culture movement from which people made REAL money. Not Techno/House Music, no one gave a shit about that outside of Europe. Not Brit Pop, again, outside of England and Scandinavia, no one really cared. Skateboarding to a certain degree but that was there way before Grunge, and also, there are more grunge fans in the Middle East then there are skateboarding fans. Still to this day. Now, Grunge got sold out, but cleverly so, by Sub Pop and their control of the then influential Melody Maker and more importantly MTV. MTV in 1991 was the only global youth culture source. More importantly, and unlike today, it’s content was not user generated. Nirvana had a GLOBAL average air time of 8 videos an hour, 7 days a week for over 2 years with a global audience of fuck knows how many people. Think about that.

And if you think this newish trend of vintage menswear is big, you’re fooled. Truly, take a walk around with open eyes and critically asses what the general public out there wears and then compare it to what you see on the blogs. And then think back to 1992 and try and remember how many Nirvana T-Shirts, nay, Flannels you saw, because of Grunge.

The web 2.0 has destroyed any hope of ever again creating a truly global trend, especially in commercial terms. In essence, what the web 2.0 has done is given every niche an equal right of existence. Democracy at it’s finest. Unfortunately, that system does not work with the old way of making money. Now, it might well be that the old way of generating income in a trend based industry is no longer valid, and that’s an interesting point all together, but the economic reality of it is, it’s still there and it’s getting hammered by this. By given every niche an equal chance at exposure, the market share subsequently is getting divided by many more people. What most brands and marketeters don’t realize is that, even though the internet promises you an unlimited amount of potential buyers, in reality it doesn’t. The same amount of buyers exist now, then they have 20 years ago. The difference is, through the democratization of the internet, you now have 100 people/brands/blogs/ideas fighting for the same buyer.
Which, in a romanticized world is great, because it gives everyone a pop, however, the stark reality is that we are all losing out, this time economically. More choice also equals less money for everyone. That means, and I am sure you can all agree with this, we all have to work a lot harder just to stay in the same spot. I now, for example, work twice as many hours a week than my father did, for half the money. That has nothing to do with inflation by the way. Fact is, because of choice, we all loose out. Even the big wigs have to fight harder, and as the last crisis has shown us, our jobs in this industry are by no means safe.

Concluding, there will never again be a global trend to cash in on.Positive or negative, I don’t know. We need to learn to accept the fact that street culture and hence street wear is a niche movement. Furthermore, in order to repair the damage no one but ourselves has done, we need to go back and come up with a set of ethical & moral guidelines acceptable to us all and live by them. When we started selling out to the next big whig for a few grand, we destroyed everything. Now, I am not saying, don’t do this and don’t work for that guy, that’s a personal decision everyone has to make for themselves, but how about we start thinking before selling out. Does Pepsi really need a cool street artist? Does Gillette need advertising on the Complex Media Network? How does McDonalds fit into all this? I don’t think they have a place in our culture at all. Taking the long road is often harder, but if unified it’s easier. If we all accept the fact that what we put into this sub culture, is what we get out, maybe we can all start having fun again.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Last night I missed the bus. I saw that shit pulling away right as I was going out the door from work. that shit fucking sucks. I had to wait for the next bus. I end up falling asleep on the bus pretty hard as well, waking up when it was at the Uptown Transit Center, a few blocks from my usual stop.

I walked home and watched a little bit of the movie "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist", but stopped it and eventually fell asleep before midnight even came around. I also missed out on Kid Cudi's concert ticket since they are really strict on some bullshit about the homecoming concert.

This morning I woke up at six in the morning to watch the Manchester United versus Bolton match. The score ended up being a draw at two to two. The game ended at like eight in the morning and I slept for another hour or two before work this morning. Becca also tweeted that she got her ticket for the Kid Cudi show, swack as hell rubbing it in.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

UK retailer End have taken delivery of an amazing varsity from Junya Watanabe MAN. “Comme des Garçons designer Junya Watanabe’s AW10 collection combines heritage design with the Watanabe’s unique use of contrasting fabrics. This leather varsity jacket takes this American college classic and adds a quilted camouflage lining, a subtle but well considered variation that works exceptionally well.” The results are beautiful and Vanson Leather construction is always top notch.

Have a closer look at the Junya Watanabe MAN x Vanson Leathers Varsity Jacket after the click.

Today I watched the Wire episode three of season three. I also find out that I can not get a ticket to the Kid Cudi show for ten dollars on October first.

Last night I biked home from work and bike to the Super America on Bryant or Aldrich to get two twenty ounces of Cherry Coke, two King size Fast Break bars, and two six hour energy drinks. I drank the Monster hitman energy drink and start drinking one of the Cokes with Captain rum and tinychat with some friends before heading out to First Avenue.

First Avenue had this "Red Bull Big Tune" event where it is sort of a producer vs. producer battle with a CDJ player. DJ Premier was the guest DJ. Dope productions by this years winner and last year's runner-up G Mo with this years runner-up and last year's winner Nicademus. Both are going to Chicago though to represent Minneapolis.

Premier spun for about an hour or about an hour and a half. He got done at about one thirty or so. I went to Honey afterwards to meetup Mel and Julie. I run into Laura outside and chill out there until they both leave. I throw my bike into Julie's car and we three ride to Caffrey's. I get the Blue Cow and potato salad. I fill up my punch card. Free sandwich next time I go there:D

I ate half the sandwich and then fall asleep to the episode of The Wire I finished today.